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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25732726">World Ain't Ready Coda Three: Grantaire, Eponine, and Gavroche</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/idiopathicsmile/pseuds/idiopathicsmile'>idiopathicsmile</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>World Ain't Ready-verse [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Les Misérables - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:07:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,542</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25732726</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/idiopathicsmile/pseuds/idiopathicsmile</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Even two months after that nightmare night when Eponine called to say that her house was burning down, even after Enjolras’s parents intervened with surgical precision, even with Eponine and Gavroche placed safe in a foster family who by all accounts does not suck, Grantaire still feels a moment of crawling dread in the pit of his stomach when Eponine calls unexpectedly.</p><p>“What’s up?” he manages with half his brain, as the other half tamps down the existential terror.</p><p>“You sound breathless,” says Eponine. “Did you bolt across the room hoping it’d be your high school sweetheart?” </p><p>“No, dude, I was just, like, pining for your absence.” Grantaire is too relieved to be even a little bothered. An Eponine giving him shit is an Eponine who is not in immediate crisis.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>World Ain't Ready-verse [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865029</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>791</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>World Ain't Ready Coda Three: Grantaire, Eponine, and Gavroche</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Even two months after that nightmare night when Eponine called to say that her house was burning down, even after Enjolras’s parents intervened with surgical precision, even with Eponine and Gavroche placed safe in a foster family who by all accounts does not suck, Grantaire still feels a moment of crawling dread in the pit of his stomach when Eponine calls unexpectedly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s up?” he manages with half his brain, as the other half tamps down the existential terror.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You sound breathless,” says Eponine. “Did you bolt across the room hoping it’d be your high school sweetheart?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, dude, I was just, like, pining for your absence.” Grantaire is too relieved to be even a little bothered. An Eponine giving him shit is an Eponine who is not in immediate crisis.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s no fun to fuck with you now that you’ve got like, self-esteem,” she says, but she doesn’t sound bothered either. “Is he over?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope.” Enjolras has a summer job, something about organizing old files at his mom’s firm. They see each other often enough, but Grantaire’s still got so much downtime, he’s seriously thinking of getting a summer job of his own, just in case that makes time away from his friends pass a little faster. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Also, money. It would not hurt to have a little cash without leaving a note for his parents first.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, sweet,” says Eponine. “Me and Gavroche are coming over to pick up my sewing machine.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s the end of an era, thinks Grantaire. Weird that his first reaction is a kind of sugary nostalgia for all the hours Eponine spent in his room sweating over her prom dress. Objectively, it was part of a really bad time in their lives. Hell, in retrospect, Eponine bringing over her sewing machine had been kind of a giant warning sign that something was up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, Grantaire is feeling a little quiet or whatever when Eponine pulls up in her ancient Toyota.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(That’s another weird, new thing: Eponine driving. Her access to a car comes courtesy of Theresa and Jim, her foster parents, and Eponine is seriously the most cautious driver Grantaire has ever seen. She makes Grantaire’s grandma look like a stunt driver from the newest </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fast and the Furious</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It’s not like Grantaire misses Eponine bugging him to give her a ride to places, it’s just. Different.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dude, check out the kicks,” are the first words out of Gavroche’s mouth as he barrels out of the car. Instead of cutting across the lawn like he usually does, though, he takes the driveway and then runs across the walk. It takes Grantaire a second to realize that Gavroche is trying to protect a pair of brand new bright red and white high tops from grass stains.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s, like, room for my toes, it’s insane,” says Gavroche, and Grantaire suddenly realizes this is probably the first time in years that Gavroche has owned a pair of shoes that weren’t too small or, y’know, in pieces.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Looking good,” says Grantaire, who can’t normally muster up half a shit about shoes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eponine comes up behind him. She’s dyed her hair again, blue this time, but it’s less patchy than usual. It looks like she got help with the back and the sides. Grantaire doesn’t know whether that was Musichetta or Theresa, but either way, it feels almost momentous.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” says Grantaire, “hope you don’t mind, but I sold all the parts that were inside your machine to a passing peddler.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eponine snorts. “Grantaire, I will give you five dollars if you can name a single part of a sewing machine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The...thread?” Grantaire hazards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No dice,” says Eponine. “Come on, let’s get moving. Theresa wants me to show her how to hem a pair of pants before her book group tonight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She doesn’t already know?” says Grantaire as they head inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Grantaire, do </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> know how to hem pants?” Eponine shoots back, and there’s something obscurely heartwarming about Eponine coming to her defense. Grantaire suspects they’ll never be, like, fully buddy-buddy, but other than a little bit of rant about suddenly having a curfew, Eponine hasn’t said one thing against the Theresa-and-Jim household.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They carry the machine out together. It’s heavier than Grantaire remembers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Want a snack for the road?” says Grantaire as they load the thing into Eponine’s trunk. “Pop-Tarts, chips, Fruit Roll-ups, all of the above?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Grantaire,” says Eponine, almost gently. “We can eat at home now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” says Grantaire. “Right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not a no,” Gavroche pipes up. “Tell me you’ve got S’more filling. Jim's down on junk food, it’s effed up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gavroche,” says Eponine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you seen the new </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fast and the Furious</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” says Grantaire.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” she says, “I went with Musichetta and Combeferre, weirdly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grantaire grins. He guesses the appeal of that particular outing for Combeferre was not exactly about car chases or explosions, but all he says is, “The kid’s got depths. What’d you think?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t get any ideas,” says Eponine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Too late, I saw it with Bahorel, Bossuet, and Joly, and then Bahorel spent like an hour doing donuts in the Meijer parking lot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eponine shakes her head. She’s got one hand on her car door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“New </span>
  <em>
    <span>Pirates of the Carribbean</span>
  </em>
  <span> coming out,” Grantaire says, and maybe he’s trying to stall her, just a little.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s gonna suck,” says Eponine. “Sequels always suck.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Ghostbusters</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” says Grantaire.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Name another.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grantaire can’t. Even the second </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fast and Furious</span>
  </em>
  <span> wasn’t, like, great cinema. He can sense his window’s closing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lemme know if you ever wanna stop by for more of your stuff,” he says nonchalantly. “I’ve still got a ton of your books and shit.” He shrugs, just to underscore how totally nonchalant he’s being. “I’m around.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re not gonna crash a hot date between you and Enjolras,” Gavroche pipes up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Enjolras works Monday, Wednesday, and Friday all day,” says Grantaire. “Seriously, it’s cool, I don’t care if you come by.” Too much. He can hear the whine in his voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eponine frowns. “Grantaire,” she says slowly. “Do you think now that our lives aren’t, like, tire fire bad, we’ll stop coming over?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It makes him feel like he’s about six years old, but he still says, “Well, you haven’t been around lately.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gavroche and Eponine exchange a look. “We, like, lived in your pocket for a month,” says Eponine. “Maybe we wanted to give you some space.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s been weeks, dude,” says Grantaire. “I’m losing my edge at Halo.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You never had an edge at Halo,” says Eponine. Then, “It’s really okay if we come over?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The wild thing is, there’s doubt in her face. Mr. Myriel says that everyone has insecurities, like a lot of insecurities, actually, but there are times it’s easier to see that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s what gives Grantaire the courage to say, “You get that we’re friends, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eponine rolls her eyes half a second too late. “Oh my god,” she says, but she’s smiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because I will drive down to Claire’s and buy us a matching set of those best friend necklaces, if that’s what it takes. I’ll do it,” Grantaire threatens. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Claire’s stuff is super cheap,” Eponine says, one corner of her mouth still quirking upwards. “It’ll turn your skin green.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then I’ll have green skin, who gives a shit?” He brightens. “Ooh, I’ll get one necklace that says ‘best’ and you can wear it and seem really conceited when I’m not around, and then I’ll wear one that says ‘friends’ and when you’re not there, it’ll look like I just support the abstract concept of friendship.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Buy us froyo and I’ll think about it,” says Eponine, and Grantaire knows just enough about mall stores to know that coming from her, even joking about wearing something from Claire’s is basically a sonnet to their everlasting bond.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Buy it yourself, you’ve got a job,” says Grantaire. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eponine smiles, slowly. “I do,” she says. “Does tomorrow work for you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tomorrow I’m helping Jehan put together a zine. Day after?”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span>“Family dinner night,” says Eponine. She sighs, but it’s not super convincing. “Tuesday?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grantaire hopes he’s not blushing.  “Tuesday I actually do have a date with Enjolras. Wednesday?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going over to Cosette’s.”</span>
  <span></span><br/>

  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Really,” says Grantaire.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She wants some company. She broke up with Marius.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Really</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” says Grantaire.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ugh,” Eponine says. “Don’t say it like that. I liked him, like, freshman year.” There’s not a trace of a tell on her face. Maybe she really has moved on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, what did </span>
  <em>
    <span>Combeferre</span>
  </em>
  <span> think of Tokyo Drift?” says Grantaire with a smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gavroche looks up from his shoelaces. “What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t push it,” says Eponine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s no way to talk to your best friend in the whole wide world,” Grantaire tells her. “I’m gonna have a green neck for you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thursday?” she says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” says Grantaire, “Thursday works.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See you then,” Eponine says as she and Gavroche climb into the car, and she doesn’t even make a joke about Grantaire needing to wash more, which is how he knows he’s really made an impression.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See you, best friend!” Grantaire calls.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eponine sticks her hand out the window to flick him off, but he can see she’s still smiling. He stands on the driveway, watching the Toyota drive away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Best friend,” he says again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It sounds alright.</span>
</p>
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